


What The Water Gave Me

by j_gabrielle



Series: House of the Broken [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic, Feels, Fluff, Globetrotting Gradence Honeymoon, M/M, Post Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 21:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8639434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: They end up in the jungles of Borneo right in the middle of a monsoon downpour. "Oh." Credence says impassive, tilting his head up to the trees. Looking over at Graves, he wraps his arm around his shoulder and brings him down the path to a longhouse by the river.





	

**Author's Note:**

> C'est la. 
> 
> I apologise heartily for this.
> 
> Also. Hi, Ezra. ficwriter103 & I love you. Please come to Malaysia.

They end up in the jungles of Borneo right in the middle of a monsoon downpour. "Oh." Credence says impassive, tilting his head up to the trees. Looking over at Graves, he wraps his arm around his shoulder and brings him down the path to a longhouse by the river.

"Who taught you how to Apparate?" Graves asks as they are brought into the warmth and dry of the shelter. The  _Tuai Rumah_ had greeted them with a smile, beckoning them for a quick drink of rice wine before releasing them to a small room with a change of clothes. Closing the flap behind him, Credence strips out of his coat and his shirt before moving to wipe Graves down of the worst of the damp.

"Mr Scamander taught me control. And then he brought me to Albus Dumbledore who taught me how to harness it." Credence says. The rain is thunderous, drowning out all sound and Graves has to strain to hear him. "Did you know that this is the first time I Apparated with someone else?"

Graves raises his eyebrows. "I think the real issue here is whether you realised that you just Apparated us halfway round the world."

"Is that not a normal thing?" Credence asks, straightening. In the half shadows of their shelter, he seems far and distant. Graves watches the shroud of quiet confidence and self-assuredness that sit on his shoulders like Credence is still learning how to carry it.

"It's not unheard of." Is all Graves offers as a light linen shirt is helped onto him. The short sojourn in the rain is chilling him rapidly. Looking around them, he notices that there is only a pile of blankets, a mosquito netting draping from the ceiling and little else. "Where are we?"

Credence lays out their sleeping arrangements side by side under the netting. "Borneo. Sarawak to be exact. Newt brought me here to see the Orang Utans. They're not magical creatures, but they are majestic enough." He smiles, pulling Graves along to lie down next to him. Facing him like this, Graves can pick out the smattering of freckles on Credence's skin.

"May I?" Graves asks, reaching up to his hair. At the nod, he gently runs his fingers through dark locks. He smells like ozone and petrichor now. Credence mirrors him, waiting for a nod from him before he buries his hand in Graves' hair. He can hear and see the shuddering of breath in Credence's exhale. "When they told me what had happened, I had thought the worst. I feared. I didn't want the last memories you had of me was of me trying to hurt you."

Credence closes his eyes, burrowing closer until their faces are pressed so close that they share air and space. Their hands migrate; Credence keeps his on Graves' nape, while Graves holds him by the waist. "Dumbledore told me they found you. But neither he or Newt would let me go to you. I realized it wasn't you back then." His voice turns brittle. "The idea that that man hurt you. Used you. I wanted to hurt him."

Graves sighs. Their lips brushing together with every tilt and shift of their bodies. Outside, the rain is beginning to peter off. "He's gone now. To a place where he cannot hurt anyone else. Dumbledore made sure of it."

"I know. Logically, I know all these things. But it doesn't mean I want to hurt him any less."

The admission is sullen, tinged with petulance. Graves smiles at that, running his thumb over the divot of his back. For all the evils that he has seen and been through, Credence has miraculously not lost that little boy in him. The quiet confidence is still there, but relegated to somewhere in the fringes. "Promise me something. Promise me that if you ever feel like you are losing control or if you ever feel like fraying. You'll tell me? If you feel like I am doing something that makes you uncomfortable, you will tell me?"

Credence pulls back, going to his elbow, looking down at Graves. "And what if I make you uncomfortable? Or make you feel like fraying?"

"Then I tell you. And we work it out." Graves reaches up to shape his palm to Credence's jaw. 

"Good." Credence says with a soft quirk of his lips. Leaning back down, he worms his way back into the embrace of Graves' arms. After a short moment of hesitation, he asks, "Can we... Can I kiss you now? I thought of doing it with you. Before. Can we do it again?"

"Yes. Of course." Graves whispers, tilting their faces to bring their lips together. Credence opens up to him like a flower in bloom. They move to complement each other, running their lips against each other, stealing breath and sound. Graves pulls him close, keeping their bodies pressed as close together. He moves his hand under Credence's shirt, splaying his hand over his ribs, feeling each inhale and exhale in the expansion and contraction. 

Graves pulls away at the feel of a growing hardness against his thigh. "Credence..."

"I'm s-sorry!" 

"No, it's nothing bad." Graves hurries to explain. Caressing his hand still heavy on Credence's skin, he smiles. "It's just... It is going to take some time for me." He says apologetically. Gently guiding Credence to cup between his thighs, he watches the parade of expressions on his face; worry, curiousity, surprise, understanding. "I want this too. But what I want and what I can give now are two different things."

Credence nuzzles against Graves' face, going back into his arms. "But us. Like this. Is fine?"

"More than fine." Graves says, wrapping his arms around him again. They lie facing each other, content to just be side by side and touching. "What happens next?"

"I can't go back. Not to New York. Not yet, at least. Dumbledore has offered Hogwarts as a sanctuary should I want it, and I should go back at some point. I still have things to learn and Mr Scamander has promised to take me to Ollivanders at some point."

Brushing away a stray lock that has fallen across his face, Graves kisses the space between Credence's brows. "I remember you saying something about cutting my hair."

"I'll look for a pair of scissors." Credence grins. The rain is now a soft drizzle outside.

"But first, sleep." 

Graves sighs, tucking his face against Credence. "Yes. Sleep."


End file.
